Behind the founder: Marc Benioff

Marc Benioff is the co-founder and CEO of Salesforce, the second-largest software company in the world. He started programming at age 15, selling his first program for $75, and went on to build Salesforce into a company worth more than $300 billion that also owns Slack, Tableau, Quip, and MuleSoft. Marc is known as a marketing legend, and is now leading Salesforce into the era of AI agents. In our conversation, we discuss: • The importance of maintaining a beginner’s mind • His approach to product launches and marketing • Managing through tough times and layoffs • His relationship with Steve Jobs and lessons learned • Why Salesforce is betting big on AI agents • Many stories from his entrepreneurial roller coaster • Much more — Brought to you by: • Cloudinary—The foundational technology for all images and video on the internet • Enterpret—Transform customer feedback into product growth • Coda—The all-in-one collaborative workspace — Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/behind-the-founder-marc-benioff — Where to find Marc Benioff: • X: https://x.com/benioff • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcbenioff — Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • X: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ — In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Introduction to Marc Benioff and Salesforce (03:54) Marc’s early career and domain names (05:59) The App Store story and lessons from Steve Jobs (15:18) Lessons from launching Salesforce (22:03) The importance of keeping a beginner’s mindset (29:53) Why Marc calls Salesforce the “25-year startup” (31:47) Agentforce (36:09) Why Marc says AI is the defining technology of our lifetime (40:12) AI’s impact on the workforce (42:31) Entrepreneurs need to be like conductors (46:02) Failure corner (50:32) The future of AI agents (56:34) Final thoughts and farewell — Referenced: • Bill.com: https://www.bill.com • App Store: https://www.apple.com/app-store/ • Salesforce: https://www.salesforce.com • Oracle: https://www.oracle.com • Larry Ellison on X: https://x.com/larryellison • Siebel Systems: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siebel_Systems • Saba Software: https://talentedlearning.com/lms-vendor-directory/saba-software • Tom Siebel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomassiebel • Avon: https://www.avon.com • Salesforce Chief Has Pulled Some Crazy Stunts: https://www.businessinsider.com/marc-benioff-salesforcecom-chief-has-pulled-some-crazy-stunts-2012-3 •  Matthew McConaughey on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/officiallymcconaughey • Woody Harrelson on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/woodyharrelson • “Ask More of AI” with Matthew McConaughey: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnobS_RgN7JaxOsLD8WH0I9E6osK3UrfI • Marc’s tweet about the ad with McConaughey and Harrelson: https://x.com/Benioff/status/1866175950062239784 • Chris Rock on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chrisrock • Sushi Iwa: http://www.sushiiwa.jp/en/ • Ryoanji Temple Rock Garden: https://www.japan.travel/en/spot/1145/ • Neil Young Archives on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/neilyoungarchives • Mount Tam: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Tamalpais • Spirit Rock: https://www.spiritrock.org • Jack Kornfield: https://www.spiritrock.org/teachers/jack-kornfield • Agentforce: https://www.salesforce.com/form/agentforce/demo • Minority Report on Prime: https://www.amazon.com/Minority-Report-Tom-Cruise/dp/B00A2FSSHK • Peter Schwartz on X: https://x.com/peterschwartz2 • UCSF Health: https://www.ucsfhealth.org • A.I. Chatbots Defeated Doctors at Diagnosing Illness: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/17/health/chatgpt-ai-doctors-diagnosis.html • Does AI improve doctors’ diagnoses? Study puts it to the test: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/11/241113123419.htm • A.I. Will Transform the Global Economy—if Humans Let It: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/07/special-series/ai-transform-global-economy.html • Wargames on Prime: https://www.amazon.com/Wargames-Dabney-Coleman/dp/B0011EQBOS • Her on Prime: https://www.amazon.com/Her-Joaquin-Phoenix/dp/B00KATY250 • AI (Einstein) at Salesforce: https://www.salesforce.com/in/artificial-intelligence • Salesforce Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire Airkit.ai: https://www.salesforce.com/news/stories/salesforce-signs-definitive-agreement-to-acquire-airkit-ai • Salesforce Buys Big Data Startup RelateIQ for Up to $390M: https://techcrunch.com/2014/07/11/salesforce-buys-big-data-startup-relateiq-for-up-to-390m • Salesforce to cut workforce by 10% after hiring ‘too many people’ during the pandemic: https://techcrunch.com/2023/01/04/salesforce-to-cut-workforce-by-10-after-hiring-too-many-people-during-the-pandemic • Michael Dell on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mdell • Bret Taylor on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brettaylor • Akio Toyoda: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akio_Toyoda • Kaizen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaizen • TRS-80: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRS-80 • CLOAD Magazine: https://archive.org/details/cload_newsletter — Recommended books: • Ghost Fleet: A Novel of the Next World War: https://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Fleet-Novel-Next-World/dp/054470505X • Behind the Cloud: The Untold Story of How Salesforce.com Went from Idea to Billion-Dollar Company—and Revolutionized an Industry: https://www.amazon.com/Behind-Cloud-Salesforce-com-Billion-Dollar-Company/dp/0470521163 • Trailblazer: The Power of Business as the Greatest Platform for Change: https://www.amazon.com/Trailblazer-Business-Greatest-Platform-Change/dp/1984825194 — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. — Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe